During a few weeks in the Arctic summer of 2012 the Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise hosted scientists from Cambridge University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and ScanLAB Projects. The aim of the expedition led by Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University was to capture the true 3D shape of Arctic sea ice for the first time with emphasis of pressure ridges.

The expedition was carried out in Fram Strait, the body of water between Greenland and Svalbard, also refereed to as the place where sea ice comes to die.